Destined By Fate
by HannahbananaJane
Summary: Jane's family was not killed by Red John. Instead, Angela and Jane are in the middle of a divorce. But their family is slightly different from any other divorced families. Angela is pushing Jane to move on and make his move on Teresa Lisbon, his boss. In order to get these two together, she recruits Charlotte, the Janes' five year old daughter, and the team to help.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer- Though it may be a dream, I do not own the Mentalist... yet.**

**Ignore my title, I'm trying to think of something better.**

There a few stories where Jane's family don't die and their spin on how Lisbon and Jane would meet, but I couldn't help but think about what if Jane and his wife divorced, but what would happen if Angela Ruskin-Jane was pushing for them to get together, instead of being jealous like I've read done a few times. So, here is my twist on our annoying consultant that you can't help but love and the pocket rocket, the dynamite, heavily armed, cute as a button Agent Lisbon (Jane's words not mine) if Jane's famiy wasn't slaughtered by Red John. Enjoy!

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?" Patrick Jane demands as she comes through the front door at eleven o'clock at night.

"Patrick, I told you I was having dinner with friends? Why so worried, darling? I'm back, aren't I?"

"Damn it, Angela! You said you would be back before eight. You promised Charlotte you would tell her a bedtime story," he growls, looking at his slightly tipsy wife.

It's as if ice water is thrown on her as she instantly sombers at the mention of the couple's five year old daughter, Charlotte Anne Jane. "I'm sorry, Patrick," Angela offers apologetically.

Jane forces himself to relax seeing that she didn't mean to break the promise she made to Charlie. "Who were you with, Angela?"

She sighs, stopping only to put her purse down before heading to the kitchen, grabbing a wine glass. "I told you I was going out with friends, Patrick, and that is what I did. I am not having an affair, even if we aren't exactly together anymore."

"Together?" He laughs without humor. "No, considering we are in the midst of an almost finalized divorce, together is not a word describe us," he spats out tensily before sighing, rubbing circles in his temple. "I'm sorry. It's just... God, I don't know," Patrick groans at his inability to form a sentence. "You, me... Us... This wasn't supposed to happen to us, Ang. We should be getting ready to celebrate our seventh anniversary and talking about having another baby, not going over divorce proceedings and fighting each other on everything."

Angela sets down the wine bottle, alcohol completely forgotten as she looks at the father of her child in complete understanding. "I know. But this has been a long time coming and we agreed this is for the best, for us and Charlie. We had fun, me and you, but we haven't been in love for years. Possibly since I was pregnant with Charlie, not that us falling out of love was her fault. If anything, she kept us together longer. And she will keep us civil with each other. We have to make sure she doesn't feel like she has to chose sides."

"I wish this wasn't happening to us, to you. I promised to get us out of the carnie life, and I did, but I also promised to love you forever, which I didn't."

"And I promised the same thing," she counters as he tries to blame himself. "This is not your fault. Nobody cheated or did anything that is cause for divorce. The only thing we did was change, Patrick. We changed. We were in love as kids, but we grew out of love. Was what we had puppy love? No, absolutely not," she moves her hands with each word, a habit she picked up long ago and passed on to their daughter, to emphasize her point. "But it wasn't that one, true love thing either. We aren't soulmates, Patrick."

"It would be so much better if we were at least still in love. Then we could have more kids, grow old together, tell our grandkids our story. That's how you and me should have been."

"But we wouldn't be as happy as we could be, even if we were still in love. You have to find your true soulmate to be happier than you and me could ever be together." She gets a teasing look in her eye, making it clear that they are done talking serious for the night. "Besides, I think I might know who that is for you."

"My soulmate? Who?" He asks puzzled, not sure where she is going with this.

She pauses for dramatic effect before rushing out the name, "Teresa Lisbon!"

Jane groans. "Not with that again, Ang!"

"Oh, I'm completely serious," she grins at his look of disbelief. "That girl has a huge crush on you and you have one for her, even if you both deny it!"

"Angela, be serious! Lisbon doesn't have a crush on me and, besides, I'm still married!"

"You didn't deny it! Ha, ha!" One point, Ruskin. Zero points, Jane. "And you won't be married for much longer! Teresa Lisbon so has feelings for you! You so do you! I haven't even met the woman and I know how deep the girl has it for you. Patrick, someone has to care deeply for you to be able to deal with your crap for months!" At his scoff, she continues, "I'm serious. You being on Teresa Lisbon's team for this long is a record for the CBI. Before her, your longest record for being on the same team was two weeks!"

"I close cases," he replies simply.

"Oh, that is bull-"

"Daddy?" Both heads turn to the five year old rubbing her eyes on the staircase, holding her favorite teddy bear. The girl's eyes widen when she spots her mother. "Mommy! You're back!"

Angela picks Charlotte up, momentarily going through her curly blonde hair before smiling at her daughter. "Yes, baby, I am. Sorry I wasn't back in time to tell you a bedtime story."

"It's okay, Mommy. Daddy made up a story about a pink panda named 'Pony'," she giggles thinking about the story. "What are ya'll talkin' about? I could hear you coming down the stairs."

"Oh, just talking about Daddy's new girlfriend!" Angela informs the girl. They told Charlotte they are getting divorced, making her understand that Daddy is moving out of the house and both of her parents will start dating other people soon. They explained that both Mommy and Daddy are okay with that and they will still be nice to each other, not even fighting as much as they used to, so Charlotte is used to Angela grilling her dad about dating.

"Angelaaaaa," Jane groans, dragging out his wife's name, making both girls laugh.

Angela whispers something is her daughter's ear. She puts her down and both grin at Jane. They both start singing, "Patrick and Teresa, sitting in the tree. K-I-S-S-I-" the rest is lost as Jane runs after both girls.

Once he catches Charlotte, he starts tickling her. "What did you say, Charlie? I don't think I heard you," he tells her, daring her to say it.

"Oh, nothing, Daddy," she promises, her eyes wide as he continues his tickling. After stopping and she catches her breath, she grins and starts yelling, "Daddy and Agent Lisbon are gettting married!" before running to her mother.

"Arggh! You two are relentless."

"Ask the good agent out and we will stop," Angela offers, Charlotte hiding behind her legs.

"You know, we must be the strangest couple to ever get divorced. Most people would be _dis_couraging their ex-spouses from dating, but you, my dear, are getting our daughter to try to convince me to ask someone out, before we are even officially divorced!"

"Oh, shut up, Patrick, and just ask her out!"

* * *

The Prologue! Review and tell me what you think! Oh, and for those who are reading **Changes (if anyone still is) **my other Mentalist fic, I promise I haven't abandoned that story. I suffered a severe case of Writer's Block, but I'm working on the next chapter for Changes and Destined Forever.

I crave reviews like a choco-holic craves chocolate! So, please donate a review for the cause of my review-holicism, so I don't have to go to rehab!


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to go ahead and upload this.**

The next day Jane is laying on his couch in the bullpen when it happens. He is pretending to nap, but really he is listening to the bet Cho and Rigsby are currently making (how long it takes before Lisbon comes in yelling at Jane again) and the almost hypnotic, constant sound of Van Pelt typing on her computer.

"Daddy!" Jane's eyes open and his head shoots up right as something blonde crashes into him.

He grins as he hugs his daughter, ignoring the stares of Cho, Rigsby, and Van Pelt, all stopping what they were doing to watch Jane with his daughter, a side they have yet to see. Until now.

"Charlie! What are you doing here?"

Jane sees Angela walking in their direction and he picks Charlotte up, meeting his wife in the middle of the bullpen and leading his family away from the curious stares of his coworkers. "What are you doing here, Ang?"

"Charlie and I were on way to her Dentist Appointment but they called and asked us to reschedule; her dentist is sick with the flu. So, since we were in the neighborhood, I figured we could stop by," Angela tells him but the entire time she is talking to him, she's looking over his shoulder. "I didn't think you would mind introducing us to your collegues."

He shakes his head when he realizes why she is really here. "Oh, no. No way."

"Oh, come on, Patrick." Angela turns her pleading eyes on him. "Why can't we meet the stoic Agent Cho, the tough but soft Agent Rigsby, and the rookie Agent Van Pelt? And Agent Lisbon. Is she here, by chance?"

Jane groans. "There is no way you are going to meet Lisbon. Not now and probably not ever." He looks down at their daughter who is being oddly quiet. "What's wrong, Char?"

She looks at him with the same look in her eyes as her mother, besides the fact that hers are truly innocent while Angela is trying to look as innocent as possible while conducting her Operation Matchmaking Scheme. "Why can't we meet Cho and Grace and Wayne and Agent Lisbon?"

"Well, it's-"

"JANE!" Jane sighs when he hears Lisbon's voice, knowing that his attempts at keeping his family away from the agent have been spoiled. Lisbon comes running out of her office, storming pasts of the desks of agents and straight to where Jane is standing, not even noticing the two visitors beside him.

"What am I being accused of doing this time, Lisbon?" Jane does his best to look completely innocent, a look he learned long ago from his wife.

"I just got off the phone with THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA!"

"Whatever he's been told, it's lies. All of it."

"Really? Because he told me you threatened his _daughter_ with a bomb to try and get a confession."

"The killer is using bombs, Lisbon. I simply used the one that didn't detenate, the dud that was used to attempt to kill Alisa Monroe, and pretended it was rigged to explode to trick the killer. I honestly thought it was the governor's daughter but it turned out to be her best friend, who confessed anyway. So, case closed."

"Dammit, Jane," she's tired and cranky and annoyed and not above whining to try to get him to see her side. "You cannot threaten people with bombs to get a confession. You cannot threaten people in _any_ way. We are the law, we can't do something illegal to catch the killer or the case could get thrown out and the killer walks."

"Um, technically, you are the law, not me. And," he adds when she opens her mouth to retort, "I really don't see why you are so upset, Lisbon. I closed the case. Technically, I wasn't threatening Rina Crowley with the bomb, so I wasn't doing anything illegal that could get her case thrown out."

"Jane," she groans, "that's not what her thousand dollar an hour lawyer is going to claim when it's time for her hearing."

"You need to lay off the coffee, my dear, it makes you too tense. Drink some tea, it will get you to relax."

"Jane, I'm completely serious." She pokes him in the chest with every word, trying to get her point across. "You have to stop pulling all these stunts."

"And I'm completely serious when I say you are way too tense, Lisbon. I got a murder off the streets, does it really matter if the murderer and the governor's daughter were under the _impression_ that I was going to blow them up."

She stares at him with disbelief. "Impression, seriously? Under the impr- you had a bomb with you! That's not 'under the impression', that's a threat, damnit! The Governor threatened to sue you, me, the CBI, hell, this entire city!"

Jane puts on a puzzled face, "why would he sue the city if he is the Governor?"

Lisbon sighs, "Jane-"

"It just, it makes no sense."

"Jane, I swear," her voice trails off as she finally notices an amused Angela standing beside Jane with a little Charlotte in front of her mother. Her cheeks redden as she stands up straight and backs away from Jane, realizing just how close her and Jane are standing. "Uh, hi."

Angela smiles knowingly. "Hi." She puts her hand out for Lisbon to shake. "I'm Angela and this is our daughter, Charlotte."

Lisbon's eyes widen with recognition and her cheeks redden even more, if that's possible. She clearly looks embarrassed, and awkward, but she shakes Angela's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Jane. And you too, Charlotte," she smiles at the little girl who's looking at her curiously. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon."

Charlotte starts giggling but the look her father gives her cuts her laughing off. "Charlotte," he says in a warning tone, knowing where this is going.

"Is something funny?" Lisbon glances between the three Janes, wondering why as soon as she said her name, the little Jane started laughing.

"Oh, it's nothing, Lisbon." Jane's quick to say.

Angela's trying not to laugh as she picks her daughter up. "Tell the good agent what we were talking about last night, Charlie."

"Angela!" Jane hisses, taking Charlotte out of her hands. "Don't you dare, Charlotte."

Lisbon grins, noticing how much Jane is trying to avoid this conversation. "Hey, Charlotte, were you talking about me last night?" The five year old nods eagerly, not giving Jane any time to stop this. "And just what were you talking about?"

"Hey, Lisbon, don't you have paperwork to fill out?" Jane interjects before his daughter can reply.

"You mean the paperwork you caused?" She rolls her eyes at Jane. "I think I can take a break between paperwork and yelling at you. We don't have an open case anyway."

"Agent Lisbon?"

Lisbon smiles at Charlotte. "Yes?"

"Can I be your flower girl at your wedding when you and Daddy get married?" The five year old asks innocently.

Rigsby chokes on his coffee laughing, Van Pelt grins, and even Cho cracks a smile. Angela is grinning and both Lisbon and Jane are bright red embarrassed. Lisbon glares at the team, making them going into a nervous fury, picking up phones and paper, acting like they weren't and still aren't listening on the conversation. Only Cho doesn't pretend like he isn't earsdropping, though all the thee are still smiling.

"Why do you think that your daddy and I are going to get married?" Lisbon glances at Jane but he's avoiding her gaze.

"The song."

"The song?" Now Lisbon's even more confused.

"Patrick and Teresa, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. You know, the song. Me and Mommy were sitting it last night while Daddy chased us," Charlotte explains.

Lisbon glares at Jane, who becomes impossibly more pink. "Oh, really?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Agent Lisbon, you said you could take a break, right? Come get a coffee with me." Angela starts pulling Lisbon away before the agent gets a chance to reply. "Patrick, you're in charge of Charlotte! Mommy loves you, baby girl! Keep Daddy in line!" She yells right before the door to the elevator closes.

**So...? What'd you think?**


	3. Chapter 3

**As I already told everyone reading my Criminal Minds story, I REALLY need to work on my Biology, Psychology, and Spanish 2 homework plus study for my test in Spanish 2 and the PSAT I'm taking Wednesday, but I finished my latest chapter and felt the need to most it immediately. So, here is a gift from a student who will probably fail my Spanish test and not do much of my homework. Oh well.**

**P.S. I was re-reading this story and realized I made a mistake. So, just know that Angela and Jane are already divorced and Jane is moving out of their house soon, leaving it with Angela and Charlotte. Enjoy!**

_"Agent Lisbon, you said you could take a break, right? Come get a coffee with me." Angela starts pulling Lisbon away before the agent gets a chance to reply. "Patrick, you're in charge of Charlotte! Mommy loves you, baby girl! Keep Daddy in line!" She yells right before the door to the elevator closes._

Angela takes Lisbon to the coffee shop across the street. She asks for her coffee order and then tells the agent to sit down and relax. After all, this is her break. Angela gets their coffees and sits across the agent. Lisbon focuses on staring at her coffee, pretending she can't feel Angela's intense look as the woman studies her.

Finally, Lisbon looks up and meets her gaze. "It is very kind of you to buy me coffee and get me out of the office, but I should really get back to the office and you probably want to see your husband and daughter."

"Patrick always told me you were dedicated. You must be very good at your job. And I saw first hand that you don't take crap from him."

Lisbon flushes with embarrassment. "I'm really sorry you saw that. I wish I could promise that I rarely yell at Jane, but that would the lie of the century. If you have something else that works to get him to behave, I would be happy take any suggestions."

Angela laughs. "I can't get him to behave. But you seem to do a pretty good job of it," she winks at Lisbon before holding out her hand for her to shake. "I do not think I properly introduced myself. I am Angela Ruskin."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Jane," Lisbon responds, shaking her hand, wondering why Angela told her that.

"No, you don't get it. My name is Angela _Ruskin_, not _Jane_."

Lisbon stares at her in surprise. "Um..." She doesn't know what to say. 'I thought she was Jane's wife,' Lisbon thinks to herself.

"Patrick and I just got divorced," Angela adds, shocking the senior agent even more.

"What? B-but you two look like you get along fine. And Jane's still wearing his wedding ring!"

Angela lifts her ring-less left hand. "But I'm not. Patrick is doing that because he doesn't want everyone to know he got a divorce."

"Oh... I'm very sorry, Mrs. Ja- Ruskin."

"Call me Angela. And there's no need to apologize. I still love him, I always will, but we weren't soulmates. Patrick doesn't believe in that stuff, but I do. And I think that, if we were soulmates, we wouldn't have gotten a divorce. Simple as that."

"Still, you and Jane were married for a long time and I'm truly sorry that you got divorced. But, um, why are you telling me this?"

"You are kidding right?" Lisbon just stares at her, making Angela quietly groan. "Stupid, idiot, imbeciles don't see what everyone does. Making my job harder," Angela murmurs under her breath before putting on a smile, playing an angle on Lisbon's sympathetic heart. "I'm sorry to make you feel uncomfortable, I just needed to tell someone. It's upsetting, even if it's for the best, and you seem like a good person to spill this to."

Lisbon pushes away her thoughts of how this is an uncomfortable situation and smiles encouragingly at Angela. "Well, if you ever need someone to talk to, you can come to me," she offers.

Angela's eyes light as as she has an 'aha!' moment, an idea of how to get her ex husband and this agent together. "You wouldn't mind?"

"Not at all. You seem nice and besides, sometimes you just need someone to talk to who doesn't know you."

"That would be great, Agent Lisbon! Thank you for the offer," Angela smiles, trying to hold in her excitement.

"No problem..." Lisbon replies awkwardly. Are there rules against comforting your consultant's ex-wife that is upset over their divorce? 'Too late now,' she thinks to herself. "I don't mean to sound rude, Angela, but I really need to get back to the office."

"No problem. I need to check on Charlotte, anyway."

The two women walk back to the CBI building in silence, both lost in their thoughts. Angela is busy delevoping her 'get Jisbon together' matchmaking plan while Lisbon is trying not to feel hurt that Jane didn't tell her he got divorced.

They've been getting closer lately and she believes she can tell him anything. He's one of her closest friends. But yet he can't even tell her he's _getting divorced? Seriously?_

What kind of hypocrite is he? Telling her she needs to trust him but he doesn't tell her that he's making one of the biggest changes someone can make in their life. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid telling her, showing pictures of his family and continuing to wear his wedding ring, letting nothing slip that something was wrong with his marriage.

"Just because he didn't tell you, doesn't mean he doesn't trust you, Agent Lisbon."

Lisbon turns her head to look at her consultant's ex wife. "H-how did you..."

Angela smirks, "_please_. I came from the same world that Patrick same from, learned the same tricks from the same people, just not all of them. I'm not as good at reading people as him, but what you were think was clearly written on your face. Someone with _no _people reading skills could tell that."

"Jane doesn't trust me. I don't know why the hell not, but he doesn't," Lisbon replies, taking her frustrations out on the poor elevator button.

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Angela asks as they step onto the empty elevator. If Agent Lisbon doesn't believe Patrick trusts her, that's a speed bump set on her plans. A fixable speed bump, but a speed bump nonetheless.

"I don't know," Lisbon sighs. "What other reason could he possibly have for not telling me he got divorced?"

Angela thinks for a second. _How to put it into perspective... _"Think of it like this: if you had been married for ten years and then suddenly getting a divorce, about to move out of the house away from your daughter, would you want to broadcast your failure to your boss?"

"Getting a divorce is not a failure," Lisbon tells Angela, trying to persuade her new friend that it's okay. She frowns with a sudden thought, "does Jane think it's a failure?"

"He doesn't exactly think divorce is something worthy of an award," Angela admits.

Before Lisbon can respond, the elevator door opens and they absolute chaos. "Oh, my... God," Lisbon murmurs, staring in shock at the events playing out in front of her.

Rigsby and Jane look like they are racing each other, trying to beat each other in a paper airplane making contest while Charlotte is sitting on a chair beside them, throwing the finished airplanes. Cho is watching with a glimpse of a smile on his face while Grace is rolling her eyes and frowning at their immaturity.

This would look something like an ordinary day in the Serious Crimes Unit on a paperwork day. But what's not normal is to have all the agents on the ENTIRE floor partnering up and racing to get finished with the most paper airplanes first, resulting in the floor looking like a blizzard came through and left feet of snow piling up.

But the worst is yet to come when Hightower comes into the office, hearing the noise of the agents from her office. "What is..." But she doesn't finish her sentence because a paper airplane hits her hit inbetween her eyes.

Hightower glares, resulting in all the agents movements and noise to seize, and Lisbon murmurs under her breath, "I'm so getting fired," right as Hightower turns her glare to the head of the SCU.

"Lisbon, in my office. NOW. Bring Jane," she barks out before stalking out of her room.

**I'm amazed and very happy at the attention this story is getting! I'm so glad everyone thinks this is funny! Just a warning though, it might be next week by the time I update. I had a plan of where I was taking this story, but my own mind decided to blow that plan to bits. I'll try to update as soon as I can though!**

**Please, please review! I really, really want to know how you like- or hate- this story! It could just say, 'good chapter' or 'bad chapter, you shouldn't be a writer', but please review! It helps me to know people want to read more of this story!**

**Hannahbanana Jane :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**I wrote this chapter while listening to Something About You by Juliana Joya. Do you really think I'm a Mentalist writer if I'm writing to that kind of music? No. If Mentalist writers listening to love songs while writing scripts, we would have gotten at least a Jisbon kiss by now. All that means is I am in no way connected with the show The Mentalist. I do not own the character mentioned below.**

Lisbon is glaring daggers at Jane even before Hightower leaves. "What the hell happened?" She yells once her boss is gone.

Jane chuckles nervously, "well, it's a funny story..." He starts, picking up his daughter as if using her a shield, like seeing the innocent five year old's face will calm her anger. But it does nothing but fuel it.

"Damn it, Jane! I probably just got fired!" She starts to march off to Hightower's office.

Jane puts his daughter down and follows the furious agent out of the room. "She's not even that mad, Lisbon. She has a son in elementary school. I'm sure she's gotten hit with worse than paper airplane."

"Really, because she looked pretty damn pissed to me!"

Jane feels an overwhelming need to roll his eyes- _this job is all she cares about_- but he knows that will just set her off again. So, he tries to reassure her. "Hightower isn't going to fire you, my dear."

"Oh, really? Because she's already made it quite clear she has no problem firing! She hates me!" Lisbon hisses. "And stop calling me 'my dear'," she adds as an afterthought.

"Don't worry, Lisbon. A, she doesn't hate you. And B, I talked to Hightower and made an agreement with her."

"And what is this 'agreement'?" She uses her fingers to make quotes as she says 'agreement', clearly believing this understanding between her boss and consultant will be anything but good.

"That I will quit the CBI if she even tries to fire you. I refuse to work here without you."

Lisbon looks stunned as they continue their walk. "You told her that?"

"It was implied," Jane responds vaguely, waving his hand to dismiss it, like it's not important.

"What did you tell her exactly?"

"I, um... told her that we spend a lot of time together and when you are unhappy, I'm... less happy."

Lisbon groans. "Great, just great. Now my boss thinks I'm sleeping with my consultant."

Jane chuckles, holding up his ring finger as they stop in front of Hightower's door. "you foget I'm married, my dear." Lisbon stares at him, not saying a word, just studying him. "What?" He asks finally when she doesn't say anything.

"After this, if I'm not fired, you and I are going to have a serious talk." She doesn't give him a chance to respond as she knocks on her boss's door.

They both enter the room to see Hightower behind her desk, calmly drinking a cup of coffee. "See? She's not mad," Jane whispers quietly to Lisbon.

Lisbon glares at him before turning apologetic eyes to Hightower. "I'm so sorry, Ma'am, for what just happened."

"Forget about it, Lisbon. Between Will and Mimi, I have gotten hit, kicked, and stepped on more plastic little toys than I can count."

"But, you looked..." Lisbon trails off. _Idiot_, she thinks to herself. _Your boss, who you thought was going to fire you, just told you that it's no big deal that she got hit with a paper airplane in front of dozens of CBI agents and you just had to open your mouth._

"Pissed?" Hightower guesses what Lisbon was going to say when she trails off.

Lisbon nods. "Um, yeah."

"Lisbon, what kind of boss would I be if I basically said it's okay for agents to have a paper airplane war instead of working?"

"Point taken."

Hightower's eyes move to Jane. "_However_, I do not want this to happen again, or next time I will have to take action. Understand?"

"Understood, Ma'am. Thank you."

Jane just grins at Lisbon, his I-was-right-and-you-were-wrong smirk that she hates (she doesn't know if she wants to slap off that look or kiss it off) coming out.

Hightower dissmisses them and they start to walk back to the bullpen. "How was your coffee with Angela?" Jane asks. "Sorry if she was a bit nosy."

"Actually, that's what I what to talk to you about."

Jane pulls Lisbon into an interrogation room, studying her. "She told you," he states more than asks.

She nods. "Why didn't you tell me, Jane?" Lisbon asks softly. "I mean... I could have been there if you needed- or still need- someone to talk to."

"Lisbon..." Jane sighs. "It's downright embarassed that I, the mentalist, couldn't fix my own married. I didn't want to see anyone's pity looks, especially not yours."

"Look at me, Jane." He sighs again but relucantly looks at the firecracker in his life as she stares at him, never looking more serious. "I now know that you are divorced. Am I looking at you with pity?"

Jane studies her truthful emerald eyes, shining with honesty and seriousness, but not a hint of pity in sight. "No, you're not. But that doesn't mean everybody else won't."

"You need a friend, Jane. I'm not going to tell anybody that you aren't married anymore, but if you need me..." She lets her offer linger in silence for a few seconds. "Call me."

He nods in agreement, his smile just a little sad as he lightly squeezes her hand. "Thank you, Lisbon."

The bullpen is completely silent after Lisbon storms out with her consultant following. All the agents not belonging in the SCU leave and everyone else gets back to work.

Angela smiles at the team. "Hi," she greets them cheerfully. "I'm Angela and this is Charlotte."

Grace sends her a bright smile in return, Rigsby smiles hesitantly, and Cho just nods in greeting.

"Listen, I know you guys need to get back to work, but can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure," Grace answers with no hesitation. The boys, however, look warily at their consultant's wife, wondering how alike their minds are and how much trouble they will probably get in with Lisbon if they agree to this 'favor'.

Angela glances at her watch, "how about you meet me for lunch tomorrow. O'Malley's at noon? It's going to take awhile to explain and I'd rather not be here."

"You don't want your husband to know?" Rigsby asks, clearly confused. Grace shoots his a look to shut up and hear Mrs. Jane out. _She'll explain eventually_, her eyes communicate.

Angela smiles, silently taking note of how the two youngest members interact. If everything goes well with setting up Patrick and Agent Lisbon, she'll try her luck with getting Rigspelt together. "No, I don't. At least, not yet. So please don't tell him. Or Agent Lisbon. Okay?"

They all look at each and shrug. _What's the harm?_ "Sure. We'll be there," Grace, clearly the spokesperson in the group, answers.

"Thanks!" She replies even more cheerfully. Her plan is starting to come together. Now, all she has to do is get the agents to agree to help. And make sure her daughter doesn't spill the beans to her father.

Angela walks over to Charlotte, getting on her knees so she's eye-level to her. "Charlie."

"Hi, Mommy."

"Char, do you want to go to lunch with Grace, Wayne, and Cho?" The girl nods ethusiastically, her mind already wondering how she can get Cho to smile, just once. "Well, in order for you to go to lunch with us, you have to make me a promise?"

"What kind of promise?" Her question is completely innocent, not at all suspicious of her mother's meddling.

"You know when we get Daddy a Christmas present and you can't tell him? This is kind of like that. You can't tell Daddy we are having lunch with these nice agents."

"Why not, Mommy?" Charlie pouts, not liking the idea of keeping any secret from her dad.

"Because we are giving Daddy the best present in the whole wide world."

"What?" Charlie asks, her eyes wide and bright, wanting to know what the best present in the whole wide world could possibly be.

Angela looks both ways and learns in to whisper in her daughter's ear, like she's telling her a secret. "Love. But Daddy doesn't know it yet, so we can't tell him."

She nods, taking her secret-keeping duty very seriously. "Okay Mommy, I won't tell."

Angela smiles. "Thank you, Charlie."

"Who's Daddy going to love, Mommy?"

"Agent Lisbon. That's why she isn't going to be at lunch tomorrow. They don't know they love each other yet, and they won't believe us if we tell them, but we are going to give them a little push towards each other."

**What did you think? Did you like it, hate it? Please tell me what you think!**

**I know I haven't updated in two months. I'm sorry. I'll try to update more regularly, or at least don't go two months without updating.**


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